Heather du Plessis-Allan: Erica Stanford is this Govt's MVP

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Erica Stanford is this Government's MVP.   

Once again, she is taking an inexplicably stupid thing in schools, ditching it, and going back to common sense. 

This is something close to my heart at the moment because I have to make a decision in the next six months or so about which school we send our son to. 

But I’ve basically already made the decision, and it will be the one school in the area that has single classes instead of open plan, modern learning spaces. 

It’s the school his best friend from kindy is now going to. It’s also the school another parent I know has just sent their child to. 

All of us are doing it for the same reason: we want to avoid open plan learning spaces. 

We know, like most parents know, that if you stick a hundred kids in a big room and tell them to pay attention to the teacher in front of them, they can’t. 

They get distracted by the loud noises coming from the other kids over there. 

Why the Ministry of Education forced this in schools will probably baffle me for the rest of my life, because there is no logic to it. 

No one who has kids, or spends time with kids, can really believe kids can concentrate and learn with 100 voices chirping all the time. 

Which idiot came up with this? I’d love to know. 

I tell you what, the legacy of this Government could well be that it finally turns around our up-to-now decades long decline in education stats. 

That, along with the ban on phones in schools, and the hour a day of reading writing and maths, and the expectation that kids must pass existing standards, actually gives our kids a chance to learn as well as kids in any other developed country, like we used to. 

And if that is what happens, given how crucial education is to a country’s success, Erica Stanford will remain as I see her: 

The MVP of this Government, if not of the decade. 

Or, of this generation. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now I've said it before, I'm going to say it again.

(00:02):
Erica Stanford is this government's MVP most Valuable player for
once again taking an inexplicably stupid thing that we were
doing in schools, ditching at and going back to common sense. Now,
this is something very close to my heart at the moment,
because I have to make a decision in kinda roughly
the next six months or so about which school we
send our son to. But it really isn't a decision

(00:22):
at all, because it's going to be the one school
in the area that has single classes instead of open
plan modern learning spaces. It is the school that his
best friend from KINDI is going to. It is also
the school that another parent I know has just sent
their child to. And all of us are doing it
for exactly the same reason, which is we want to
avoid those open planned learning spaces because we know, like

(00:42):
most parents do. I would say that if you stick
one hundred kids in a big room and tell them
to pay attention to the teacher in front of them,
they can't. They get distracted by the loud noises coming
from the other kids over there, or the TV over there,
or what the teacher is saying over there, or why
someone's laughing over there. There's just a hundred distractions all
the time. Why the Ministry of Education forced this on
schools will probably baffle me for the rest of my

(01:03):
life because there's no logic to it. No one who
has kids, will spends time with kids, can really believe
that kids can concentrate and learn when there are one
hundred voices chirping around them. I'm which idiot came up
with this. I'd actually love to know. Just to settle me,
I'll tell you what the legacy of this government could
well be that it finally turns around. Are up to

(01:23):
now decades long decline in education stats with that ban
on phones in schools, with the hour a day of reading,
writing and maths, with the expectation that kids must pass
existing standards, and actually gives our kids a chance to
learn as well as other kids in any other developed
country like we used to. And if that happens, then
Erica Stanford, given how crucial education is to a country success,
Erica Stanford, will remain, as I see her, the MVP

(01:45):
of this government, if not of the decade, if not
of her generation. For more from the mic, asking Breakfast,
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